How to make a karaoke version of a song

What you need

An MP3, WAV or M4A of up to 5 minutes. Start from the best-quality file you have, because separation is cleaner on less compressed audio. If a song runs longer, trim it to the section you need first.

How to make the karaoke track

1. 1.

   Add the song

   Open the Vocal Remover. Under Your audio, drop in the file.

2. 2.

   Split it

   The price appears above Remove the vocals once the song is read. Press it; separating the instruments takes about a minute. You get six stems: vocals, drums, bass, guitar, piano and Other, the rest of the mix.

3. 3.

   Pick a mix

   Instrumental mutes the vocals. Karaoke keeps them very low, as a guide. Vocals only and Drums & bass are there for practice tracks.

4. 4.

   Fine-tune it

   Each stem has a volume slider, a mute button and S to hear it alone, and you can save any stem as its own file.

5. 5.

   Bounce your mix

   Press Bounce this mix to turn your settings into one audio file, right in your browser, then Download mix (.wav). Your stems also save to History, so you can come back and try another mix.

Silent vocals or a guide vocal?

For performing to an audience you want the vocals gone, so use Instrumental. A guide vocal, where the original singer sits very low in the mix, is better for learning a song or for singers who come in late. Start from Karaoke and nudge the vocal slider up a little until you can just follow it.

Why you can still hear the singer

Separation works out which sounds belong to which instrument, and some of them overlap. The usual causes are reverb on the voice, which smears into the other stems, and backing vocals mixed in with the band. Solo each stem with S to find where the leftovers are. If it's in Other, lower that stem a little, because it often holds a song's pads and effects as well. A cleaner source file helps more than anything else: a track that's been through a low-quality MP3 or a video site carries artefacts the separator can't undo.

How to add lyrics on screen

Pleosa doesn't time lyrics to a song for you, so this part is by hand, and it's worth doing line by line. In the AI Movie Director, open a blank project, add your bounced mix from My media, lay a colour card from Titles across the timeline, then add one title per lyric line and drag it onto the moment it's sung. Exporting in the browser is free.

What it costs

Can you make a karaoke version of any song?

The tool can split almost any recording. Whether you may use the result is another matter. Under US law a recorded song usually holds two separate copyrights: one in the composition (the music and lyrics) and one in the sound recording, which are commonly owned and licensed separately. Both owners hold the right to make derivative works, and the US Copyright Office lists remixes and videos using a song among them. Anyone else needs a licence, a statutory licence or an exception such as fair use.

In plain terms, songs you own and songs you've licensed for this use are fine. Publishing a karaoke version of someone else's song, or using it in a video, a venue or a product, usually needs permission from both sides. Rules differ by country and by use, and this guide isn't legal advice.